Clinical analysis basic needs

Techniques in clinical analysis have undergone many advances in the last few decades. The basic needs in clinical chemistry are unambiguous analyte-specific assays that provide both identification of sample components and their concentration levels. The importance of this is self-evident, since most substances analyzed are part of a multicomponent biological fluid. Advances in enzyme and immunochemical assay techniques provide ideal systems for component... 

There are four basic system types. Type I are basic isocratic systems used for simple, routine analysis in a QA/QC environment often for fingerprinting mixtures or final product for impurity/yield checking. Type II systems are flexible research gradient systems used for methods development, complex gradients, and dial-mix isocratics for routine analysis and standards preparation. They fit the most common need for an HPLC system. Type III systems are fully automated, dedicated systems used for cost-per-test, round-the-clock analysis of a variety of gradient and isocratic samples typical of clinical and environmental analysis laboratories. Type TV systems are fully automated gra-... 

The basic principles of scientific writing and reporting apply to pharmacoeconomic research, and little need be said here. The structure of the paper is the same (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, etc.). It is important to be consistent and appropriate in the use of terminology (e.g. costs is not synonymous with charges , and cost-effectiveness is not a cost-benefit analysis Sanchez and Lee, 1994). New mediums such as the Internet offer new possibilities for publication, dissemination and debate (Medical Outcomes Trust, 2001 (www.outcomes-trust.org) American College of Clinical Pharmacy, 1996). 

Amino acid analysis can be performed for detecting all the amino acids or for few specific ones. Regardless of the type of method, analysis of amino acids is a difficult task because the majority of the amino acids lack a strong chromophore and they resemble each other in structure, which makes the separation very difficult. Thus, they need extra reaction steps to be derivatized pre- or postseparation. Furthermore, physiological fluids like serum contain many interfering compounds such as peptides and the uncommon amino acids. Amino acid analysis can be requested for a wide variety of purposes such as clinical (diagnostic), nutritional, or for basic structure determination. 

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